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Published: April 24th 2010
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Ajmer - Ahmedabad - Bombay - etc..
Up until this point we stayed North to avoid the heatwave in Southern India but we both felt it was time to put some serious miles down and hit the road.
A public bus took as from Pushkar to Ajmer, then a grueling 18 hour train journey to Mumbai (Bombay). We had planned to stay in Mumbai for a few days but having seen the city and the cost of living there we decided to continue on what became an epic 2000km trip all the way to Goa, and in just two days.
Journal excepts:
Ness: "...
We board a bus to Ajmer (Ru7) and spend it inadvertently entertaining the local women who can't keep their hands off my dreads. They seem to find it pretty funny and fascinating. Not speaking English we all try communicating in our own languages, each not understanding a word but smiling and laughing all the same. Hell, these women have hoops in their noses that could fit round my wrist and they think i look strange!..."
Tom: "...
We sit in our Ajmer restaurant while waiting for our train attempting to order food which comes as anything other than what we order. When i brave the toilet i turn and find myself confronted by a nightmarish cockroach that stands defiantly between me and the door - my escape. This critter was the size of a child's foot! I slowly edge my way past under it's malign gaze and swiftly leg it!..."
Tom: "...
The train to Mumbai is better than i thought, though crampt and crowded. The sleeper berth is a shelf that runs like a luggage rack up near the ceiling with two similar bunks below me. This arrangement is mirrored on the other side and again across the isle where Ness lies. I unpack some home comforts and make my temporary dwelling as liveable as possible and settle down for a long journey. What awaits us at Mumbai is beyond our reckoning...."
Ness: "...
For portions of the journey i sit on the steps of the open carriage door and feel the cooler wind blow through my hair. As the hours pass i watch the deserts of Ragisthan surrender to greener and lusher terrain spotted with grazing fields and rice paddies...."
Tom: "...
The Indians around us seem amiable and friendly. After so long in their company i feel i will never forget their faces..."
Ness: "...
I can hold out no longer and brave the toilet, bravery was certainly needed as i open the door to about twenty cockroaches and 'other' bugs scurrying away to hide in the fixtures. I hastily use the loo (hole in the floor) sensing perhaps the urgency as they await their next meal...."
Tom: "...
The toilet was a cockroach infested cubicle but gave us a peace of mind that buses don't bestow...."
Tom: "...
I enjoy the train ride. It felt good to not be anywhere, to be traveling somewhere of which we had no idea about, no plan but to head south. We were free as the wind...."
Tom: "...
We finally hit Mumbai and dive in to the chaos. A taxi across the city to the southern transport hubs reveal the nature of this hot and over crowded city, and we soon decide that moving on today could be a better idea. When we check the tariffs of our budget sleeping options we soon realise that staying here even one night is way beyond our meager means. To our dismay all the trains to Goa on the southern rails are booked solid for the next three days. Next stop, private bus booking office. All deluxe/sleeper coaches are also booked up. We decide we have no other option than to take a sitting bus for a grueling 14 hours to Goa. The only good news is the bus leaves in 2 hours. In our desperation to leave this expensive and oppressive city we buy two tickets and head across town on foot with shoddy directions to find the elusive bus stand...."
Tom: "...
We hole up for an hour in an AC cooled diner full of rich cosmopolitan Indians and attempt to remove some of the sweat and filth coating our tired and travel worn bodies before the next more challenging journey in to the unknown. Here again we find the appalling contrast between rich and poor. Guards with various fire arms and dark shades patrol the cinema complex on Fashion Street with grim faces...."
Tom: "...
The coach was grotty and unbearably hot. The driver drove with willful abandon and seemed intent on killing us all on the winding mountainous roads. The occasional flash from passing traffic revealed bed bugs and other undesirable occupants of our cramped seats.. I am awake all night...."
Ness: "...
The natives seem to sleep so soundly regardless of the noise and bumps of the bus. One guy sleeps in the isle unaware of being stepped on or even Tom's bag falling on him from the luggage rack!..."
Ness: "...
We stop at some point in the night and i walk off the bus to the sight of Indian men all lined up as though to a firing squad relieving themselves on the side of the road. I have a chuckle and wait for Tom as there isn't other women around. A full moon rises quickly above the horizon full and silent showing us some light, a reassuring familiar sight looking down upon us...."
Tom: "...
The sun finally rose to reveal a tropical vista of coconut trees, rivers and jungle. We had emerged from hell and found paradise!..."
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